Written by: Tarushi Mohan

Brought up in Jakarta, Aviral moved to Mumbai when he was in high school. Currently working in the financial sector, he talks about his journey of losing over 35 kgs of weight and the strict schedule he follows to maintain it. Following a carefully curated regime, he makes sure he eats out every now and then, and Zomato reviews are how he plans those hard-earned outings.

“So like, food is the most important thing for your body. I mean, that's what your body survives on.” Aviral talks about the importance of food while following an overall healthy lifestyle. “So, you know, to actually function better during the day, I like to be, you know, full and I shouldn't be craving something at any given point of the day.”

Growing up in Jakarta, Indonesia, where “the staple is rice and chicken, but the chicken is fried,” Aviral struggled with weight issues for the majority of his formative years. He moved to Mumbai and eventually decided to adopt a healthier lifestyle with Covid-19 playing the much-needed accelerator.

Being a huge foodie, Aviral made sure that his cravings were satiated while maintaining his fitness regime and this is where Zomato reviews have helped him out.

A proper meal schedule coupled with the dedication to follow through

Being a morning person, Aviral wakes up around 5.30 am every day and makes his way to the gym. An early workout gives him the freedom to plan his meals in a way that is palatable and healthy at the same time. 

“I make sure that I have proper meals so that I don't binge in between while doing anything else so that I don't get distracted,” says Aviral. 

“There have been times where I had to skip breakfast, but then instead of pushing myself into having a big sit down meal, I would just get a quick bite around like 11 am then I would have a proper lunch. And then around 5 pm, I would have a good heavy meal so that it covers up the breakfast bit, like one particular meal during that time and then around 9:30 pm I would have the proper sit-down dinner. So basically, I would like to adjust my meals according to the time, which I could get, but then I don't do it quite often, it's like a very rare circumstance,” he explained.

For the days when he doesn’t have time to eat breakfast at home, he simply walks over to Plate and Pint, a cafe near his office which offers a variety of healthy brunch options. He discovered this place through Zomato ratings and reviews, introducing his colleagues to it as well. 

With the advent of post-Covid work-friendly cafes, Plate and Pint provides the ideal atmosphere for Aviral to simply walk in with his laptop and spend a good hour enjoying his meal with that iced coffee he loves.

He’s got a workaround to eat healthy

Being a self-proclaimed foodie, Aviral has come up with several workarounds to satiate his food cravings - all while following a healthy lifestyle. A big one is ordering a “side-dish” instead of the entire meal.

While talking about cheat meals on weekends, he says, “We have Fridays where we might order basically you know one kind of a side dish from outside but then like rest all the meals are cooked at home. There is no substitute for that or no excuse for that like ordering everything from outside.” 

Owing to his love for North Indian cuisine, Aviral relies on the search option in Zomato for his “grilled side dishes”. Based on Zomato reviews, he has identified several places nearby which offer him a variety of grilled food options. “So there's one Fusion Kitchen that serves good North Indian food and then there's one Banana Leaf and then Bayleaf and Beyond. So these are good places which give you proper North Indian food. Yeah, so usually my Zomato is filled up with orders from these places”, he says. 

With several restaurants on Zomato offering details around calories and ingredients present in an item, while ordering in, Aviral finds it easier to choose from the menu while keeping his health regime in mind. 

Exploring new restaurants is a stress-buster

In addition to ordering at times, Aviral talks about how he makes it a point to go out over the weekends. “Because then it's better for me. I mean, like I'm working throughout the week, and then I deserve some kind of time for relaxation. And that's why I actually force myself to step outside the house and just have a good time so that I can chill out over the weekend. Next week I'm fresh to work.”

Given the plethora of eateries in Mumbai, Aviral relies heavily on Zomato reviews for picking out a place. “So I get introduced through Zomato. What I do is that I see which restaurants are yummy and which ones are nearby first and then that's what I would see. Then I just try it once and then if they are good then I would definitely go and try it again. And like you know have it again.” He feels that Zomato reviews are authentic, especially the ones supported by customer images and that is the biggest thing that makes Zomato better than Swiggy.

With Zomato introducing several new features like Vibe Check, where Zomato reviews the “vibe” of a place and provides authentic customer feedback, 10-minute delivery guarantee and Zomato Gold, a subscription plan which offers lucrative discounts and cashback options, they have clearly gained an upper hand in this field for Aviral.

Swiggy has now acquired DineOut to offer restaurant discounts and have their subscription-based Swiggy One plan for free delivery which has brought them almost at par with Zomato. In the last 2 years, Swiggy has emerged as a tough competitor to Zomato.

With health-conscious foodies like Aviral resorting to Zomato for their much-awaited and hard-earned weekend outing, it is yet to be seen if Swiggy can surpass Zomato in revenue or if Zomato will regain its lead in this space.